The Battle Mountain High School volleyball team made its senior night exciting for the fans and its four seniors this Friday night in Battle Mountain.
The Lady Longhorns closed out their regular-season against West Wendover and beat the Wolverines in a five-set thriller 25-19, 17-25, 25-12, 22-25 and 16-14 to finish the regular season at 10-11-4 and 5-8 and fifth place in the Northern 2A.
The opening set featured a number of momentum swings, as West Wendover quickly scored the first four points of the first set. However, Battle Mountain struck back for seven straight points, including an ace from Shea Jones and a kill and block by Christina Holley.
The Wolverines grabbed a 13-12 advantage but that was short-lived as the Lady Longhorns went up 14-13 after an ace by Marena Fuller.
Lauryn Avey added an ace of her own to keep Battle Mountain ahead at 16-15 and after West Wendover tied the set for the last time at 16-16, back-to-back kills by Brynnlee Freeman and Holley put the Lady Longhorns up for good.
West Wendover switched over the momentum in the second set, scoring eight of the first nine points.
An ace by Freeman cut the deficit to 8-4, but the Wolverines’ advantage quickly grew to 14-6.
Battle Mountain used aces by Avey and Freeman to cut the gap to 18-16, but that was as close as Battle Mountain got, with West Wendover closing the set out on a 7-1 run.
The third set was back-and-forth to start, with Battle Mountain taking a 9-8 lead after a kill by Freeman and a tip by Bailey Elderkin. The set was tied at 11 when Battle Mountain finished on a 14-1 run to lead the match 2-1.
West Wendover stayed alive in the match and bounced back to win the fourth set 25-22. The Lady Longhorns held on in the fifth set for a thrilling two-point win in extra time.
Battle Mountain will host the Northern 3A Regional Championship on Friday and Saturday.
Battle Mountain will play North Tahoe at 5 p.m. with the winner playing Incline on Saturday at noon.
Pershing County will take on West Wendover in the other first round match-up on Friday at 7 p.m.
The winner plays Yerington at 1:45 p.m. The championship is set for 4 p.m.
The two finalists advance to the NIAA 2A State Championships at Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas on Nov. 12-13.
